This is an article about the Hindu festival Dhanu. For information about Dhanu, the assassin of the Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...

, see Thenmuli Rajaratnam

Thenmuli Rajaratnam

Thenmozhi "Gayatri" Rajaratnam was the assassin who killed Rajiv Gandhi, herself, and 14 others in a suicide bombing on May 21, 1991, in the Indian town of Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, near Chennai. A member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , Rajaratnam was also known as Gayatri and Dhanu...

In the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 religion, Dhanu, which is generally referred to as Dhanu Yatra, is a festival holiday relating to Lord Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

's visit to Mathura. This visit was made to witness the ceremony of Bow. This event is observed in a colourful festival at Bargarh

Bargarh

Bargarh, is a town and a municipality in Bargarh district in the state of Orissa, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bargarh District.- Geography :...

, Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

.

During this festival, which runs from 16 December until the beginning of January, Bargarh becomes known as Mathura, the Jura River becomes Yamuna

Yamuna

The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...

 and the village Amapalli, (which is situated on the other bank of the river), becomes Gokul

Gokul

-In Vedic Scripture:-Geography:Gokul is located at . It has an average elevation of 163 metres .-Demographics: India census, Gokul had a population of 4041. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Gokul has an average literacy rate of 60%, higher than the national average of...

.

Different acts of puranic

Puranas

The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...

 descriptions are performed at specific locations and the spectators move from place to place with the action to follow the performance. During this festival the Lord is offered sweetened rice flakes which are specially prepared in a Conical shape.

The festival is also referred to as Dhanu Sankranti.

In the state of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, women celebrate Thiruvathira

Thiruvathira

Thiruvathira is a Hindu festival celebrated in the southern Indian state of Kerala on the full moon day of the month of Dhanu . The festival commemorates the death of Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love...

 in this month. Thiruvathira is supposed to be the birthday of Lord Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

. Married women and girls do 'upavasa' (fasting) on that day, and sing and dance. Girls pray to Lord Shiva to get a good husband while married women pray for the longevity of their husbands.

In Kannada

Kannada language

Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

, "dhanu" means "bow," and is also the name of the zodiac sign Sagittarius.